Page:Aristotle - Rhetoric, translator Crimmin, 1811.djvu/12

I feel not the least hesitation in saying, that, as an University Class-book, the present work would be most efficacious in imprinting upon the student's understanding those abstract principles of Locke and other logical writers, which in several cases leave only a superficial trace behind them. The present treatise, in like manner, has the incalculable advantage of being specifically directed to the three cardinal points of professional avocation. Not a principle of human thought, is there, which cannot be comprised under what Aristotle terms the Places of the three Rhetorical Divisions; and it is worthy of remark, that, at the special instance of several great men in the Macedonian court, this copious philosopher embodied the general substance of this extended work, in a short tract, which he addressed to his illustrious pupil, Alexander (Ῥητορικὴ προς Αλεξανδρον).

Little more need be said in order to impress the reputation in which the Aristotelian Rhetoric has been held. It must, however, be observed, that our author generally supposes some elementary reading in those to whom he addresses himself, as he makes constant reference to the Art of Logic in his exemplifications, For this reason it